Maritime Studies, MA

The master of arts in maritime studies requires a total of 36 s.h. of course work, 26 s.h. of which must be taken in history. The student may take the additional 10 s.h. in history or related fields outside the Department of History. Course work is divided into three broad areas of inquiry as follows: core courses in maritime history and nautical archaeology and the thesis, which account for 15 s.h. History electives account for 3-18 s.h., and professional phase courses account for 3-18 s.h.

In addition to the 36 s.h. of course work described above, students must fulfill the department’s research skills requirement by one of the following: a) successful demonstration of reading knowledge in a foreign language (FORL 6000 satisfies this requirement); b) successful completion of HIST 5950, HIST 5951 (Introduction to Quantitative History/Directed Readings and Research in Quantitative History); or c) CSCI 5774 (Programming for Research) or CSCI 2600 (Introduction to Digital Computation). If HIST 5950, HIST 5951 are used to satisfy the research skills requirement, they may not be counted toward the 36 s.h. requirement for the degree. Students who intend to pursue a PhD program are strongly advised to fulfill the foreign language requirement.

An oral comprehensive examination will be a component of the thesis defense. Candidates will be required to demonstrate their knowledge of their field of concentration as well as establish how their thesis contributes to that field of study.